Haifa Magistrates Court Judge Eran Kotton today granted the request by the Israel Tax Authority to extend for a second time the remand of another suspect in the Swiss bank accounts affair. The suspect, Einat Erdman-Rath, a 42 year-old social worker from Holon, was arrested on suspicion of keeping $1 million in at least three separate bank accounts at Swiss branches of UBS and Julius Baer and in an account at Bank of America in the US.
According to the Tax Authority, documents were seized in a search of Erdman-Rath's house linking her to the receipt of hundreds of thousands of dollars from registered trusts in tax shelters Lichtenstein and Panama, and to overseas bank accounts in her name.
Guy Erdman, her husband, was also questioned on suspicion of evading income tax and failure to report a bank account at Bank of America. After confessing, he was freed today on bail.
Erdman-Rath was arrested several days ago in the major investigation aimed at exposing Israeli citizens owning overseas real estate and bank accounts that were not reported to the Tax Authority, as required by law, in order to avoid paying taxes amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Erdman-Rath's name was found in the records of Israeli banker Roni Elias, employed by UBS in Switzerland. Elias was arrested six months ago on suspicion of helping Israeli citizens conceal their secret accounts.
The request to extend Erdman-Rath's remand stated that she had taken action to conceal and cover up her connection with the trusteeships in the tax shelters and with the overseas bank accounts, and that she had refrained from explaining what was found in the search of her house and had exercised her right to remain silent in her initial interrogation.
Her remand was extended by one more day, and she was then released to complete house arrest on NIS 450,000 bail in order to prevent her from tampering with evidence and coordinating her testimony with those involved in the affair.
Two other suspects were arrested and released on bail yesterday in the Swiss bank affair: Even Yehuda resident Joel Grosberg, 69, owner and manager of Elram Engineering and Advanced Technologies 1992, and Tel Aviv resident Yosef Beit Yosef, 54, a real estate agent and website developer.
Grosberg and Beit Yosef are suspected of holding $500,000 each in an unreported UBS account, and of meeting secretly with Roni Elias in a Tel Aviv luxury hotel in order to obtain information and give instructions for their accounts for the purpose of concealing their ownership of the accounts. Grosberg also has an unreported account in the US.
The arrests bring the number of interrogated suspects to 32.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 28, 2015
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